


HIATUS - What Lies Within

by DizzyBunnies



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Lance finds out he's Altean, Langst, M/M, Team as Family, Whump, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-09 03:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10402308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DizzyBunnies/pseuds/DizzyBunnies
Summary: Lance triggers a device that should only work on Alteans. Wait, what?Or: Lance finds out he's part Altean while on a mission.





	1. Uncovered, Unearthed, Unbelievable

**Author's Note:**

> im so weak for altean!lance, nyall have no idea. consider this an au in which lance accidentally finds out he is altean. 
> 
> btw, this takes place in the ~*~*lovely*~*~ world of s3 in which shiro has been found and everything is back to normal (bc thats happenin.........nobody else is piloting black......shiro is the only black paladin......he is fine...........they will find him.....)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so if u can guess where the gnome reference is from, u get 100 hugs from urs truly (and a s/o in the notes for the next chap c; heh)

Team Voltron set out on a mission they thought would be pretty easy—for once. They had received a distress signal from a nearby planet (they didn’t even have to wormhole!) and were asked for something easy.

Easy, but mildly inconvenient. So that sucked.

The call had been for a small town on the planet. The place was _infested_ with what the inhabitants called gnomes. Upon arrival, the gang realised that the things looked like tiny little trolls with pointy hats. As if garden gnomes could just come alive and ransack a village.

“Voltron responds to _any_ call.” Allura had told them.

What she didn’t expect, however, was that the place was not only infested with gnomes. Oh, no. That would be _too_ easy. The area was under strict Galran watch—possibly one of the next planets to be taken over and/or destroyed.

They had decided to split up, each one of them with a huge rucksack to put the gnomes in. They were to bring the vile little creatures to their natural habitat on the other side of the planet (which, considering was a small planet, would probably take them little to no time at all).

Coran and Allura stayed behind on the castle ship, somewhere not too far out into the planet’s orbit. The last thing they wanted was for Galra to spot Voltron _and_ Alteans. Allura assumed that because the planet was so far out from Zarkon’s base, that the head commander at _this_ Galra base wouldn’t be aware of Voltron’s whereabouts. There was hardly any signal for Voltron’s comms to work, so unless Zarkon himself had decided to come _all_ the way out here, they were safe.

However, Allura wanted to be extra safe—any kind of Galran gadget or knowledge that proved she or Coran were Altean, and their mission (and lives) would be a bust.

Shiro had the great idea of doing two missions at once: get rid of the gnomes, but while patrolling the streets as they did so, they were to also get as much Galra info as they could.

And so, here they were, on a planet that resembled the Sahara Dessert, riding a small village of gnomes, and gathering important Galran intel.

“These things are gross,” Pidge commented. She picked up another gnome and shoved it into the bag, pulling the drawstrings as quickly as she could to avoid it lashing out at her. “And I’m not spotting any Galrans. How are you guys?” She asked into the comms. She heard several sighs.

“ _I second that._ ” Hunk replied. “ _About the gnomes, I mean._ ”

Pidge’s features brightened.

“So you found Galra info?” She asked, hopeful. Though she couldn’t see, Hunk shook his head.

“ _Nah, my bad._ ”

She huffed, getting back to work. She had wandered off to what appeared to be an abandoned market district, so there were tons of nooks and crannies for her to find the gruesome little beings.

From his spot by a thin stream of water, Keith tossed another two gnomes into his bag. He grinned in satisfaction; it felt good putting vermin in their place, even if they _were_ the size of a baseball. He had to admit; the mission was boring, so any time he felt he could make it more interesting, he did.

Apparently, Lance thought the same thing, because his voice suddenly boomed on the comms.

Lance had reached a mucky, old cave, having lost his grip on a gnome. He had followed it until it entered a small hole on the side of the cave's wall. He had walked around to the front of the cave, seeing nothing but dead plants and mud blocking the entrance. However, something caught his eye—a glowing purple light, just a spec, a dot—shining from the inside. No doubt about it, that was Galra tech. Well, all doubts aside, it _could_ be Galra tech, but he only had one way of finding out.

“Guys, I found a cave,” He announced, knotting the drawstrings of his bag and setting it on the ground next to him. He pushed aside a curtain of dead vines and dirt, coughing in the process. The purple light became much more visible, and he took a step inside. “I think there might be Galran soldiers or something in here,” he continued.

“ _Well, take caution_.” Allura’s voice warned. “ _You never know what the Galra are planning_.”

“Copy that, m’lady.” Lance replied, grinning.

The others commented similar phrases, telling Lance to watch out, but merely returned to their gnome (and information) hunting, and told Lance to speak up if he found anything.

He bent down some to go deeper into the cave, and practically had to crawl to make his way down a long, eerie tunnel. Cobwebs and more dead plants blocked his path, but he pushed them aside, muttering to himself every now and then about how gross it was.

Finally making it out of the tunnel, Lance stood up and dusted himself off.

“Whoa…”

He had somehow managed to end up in a large, vacant area. Clipped wires hung from the ceiling (wherever the ceiling was), and old machinery lay scattered about. He took a few steps to reach the middle of the place, spinning on his heel to get a good look around. He gasped, remembering what he was there for, and took out his bayard. In a split second, he was holding his gun, holding it out in front of him with both hands—just in case.

He walked around carefully, and after a moment or two, lowered his weapon. The place was deserted as deserted could be. The machines seemed to be old computers of sorts. There were also tall cabinets, probably used to file documents and folders. They had clearly been there a while, because Lance was able to blow a thick layer of dust off one of them.

“So, I think this cave was maybe some kind of secret lab?” Lance said into the comms. There was static for a second before Shiro’s voice rang through.

“ _What makes you say that?_ ” He asked.

Lance shrugged, continuing his walk around the machines and various empty cabinets.

“There’s a bunch of weird filing drawers, old computers, and ripped wires hanging from, uh, the top? Not sure if there’s a ceiling in here—its pretty dark and when I look up it’s just black.”

Shiro hummed.

“ _What made you think it was Galran?_ ”

It was like Lance had forgotten what had drawn him into the cave in the first place, because his lips formed a small ‘o’.

“Oh yeah, there was a weird purple light shining from somewhere…there!” He declared, point at the culprit. It was a shame nobody could see how proud of himself he looked. “I’m gonna follow it,” he informed, stepping towards the source of the light.

“ _Alright. Let us know if you find anything._ ” Was Shiro’s reply.

“Copy that,” Lance said, holding out his bayard once more.

The area was mostly black, so the purple light he was seeing was actually a laser. He went closer and closer until he found the laser coming out of a large, shaded tin. He was no longer in the large, spacious area from before, but now, from what he could see, he was in a smaller, more crowded room. There wasn’t nearly as much space as there was in the other room, yet he still couldn’t see a foot in front of him.

“It’s actually a laser beam,” Lance spoke softly into the comms.

“ _Oh?_ ” Keith breathed.

“Yeah. It’s really dark and it’s not reflecting off of anything. Making it real hard to see where I’m going. So not a light, but a laser. Maybe like, a scanner? I’ll let you guys know in a sec.”

“ _Gotcha_.” Keith replied.

Deactivating his bayard to hook it on his belt, Lance brought up both hands to investigate the laser. He put a hand in front of it, and then the other, waving them as if trying to get someone’s attention. If it really _was_ a scanner, there was no indication as to what he was supposed to scan, and where.

He tried squinting and moving his face towards it so that it hit his eye (thankfully, it didn’t hurt him, but what a blonde moment for the poor boy), but nothing happened. He backed away slightly, bopping his head to the sides in hopes of it maybe scanning his entire face, but still, nothing happened.

“Hmm…”

Frustrated and fed up, he whipped out his bayard, activated it, and sent a blast right at the source of the light. The wall behind it crumpled like paper in a fire, and Lance had to swat away all the smoke. He brought his arms down, still holding his bayard tight, and stepped over the debris into the other side of the room.

The area was bigger now, and much more illuminated. There was a flickering light dangling from the ceiling, and there was a source of natural sunlight coming from somewhere to the left. He followed it to find a hole leading outside.

“Well, that was lame.” He muttered to himself.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps and muffled voices. He gasped slightly, nearly tripping on himself in surprise, but managed to duck down and hide behind some of the debris from the blast.

“It came from over here…”

He peeked through a spot from where he was squatting down, and a hand flew to his mouth.

_Galra druids…_

He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t alert his team. The Galra would hear him and ambush him. What if…what if _he_ ambushed _them_? No, that was dumb, he didn’t even know how many there were.

Sitting straight, he peered over the edge of the debris to get a better look. Two soldiers stood by what used to be the entrance wall, and one stood by the window where the sunlight peeked through.

_Three of ‘em…_

Lance held his gun tightly in both hands, smirking to himself.

_Piece o’ cake._

Crouching on one knee, Lance brought his arms up, elbow resting on his risen knee. He closed an eye and moved his head forward, placing the other eye right at his scope. He breathed in, steadying himself, and fired for the druid near the window.

Being a robot, it metal bits went flying, and the druid fell to the ground with a _smack_. The other's made a sound of shock.

“What the—”

Lance’s eyes widened. Fuck, the other two were _living._ The Galra were their enemies, but shit, he wasn’t ready to just _murder_ people.

_Guess I better get outta—_

“There he is!”

“Quiznack!” Lance shouted, bolting upward.

“After him!” One of the soldiers ordered, and suddenly, despite his back facing his enemies, Lance knew there were more than just two Galra on his tail.

He zoomed past the hallway into the large open area with the dusty filing cabinets. The Galra must have used this place as a cover-up, so that if anyone were to accidentally stumble across it, they wouldn’t think anything of it.

“Guys, I’ve got company!” Lance yelled into the comms. He had the voices of six other people in his ears, asking what he meant, if he was okay, and if he had found anything. “Oh, I found something alright, but first I need to get out of it!” He shrieked, watching as a plasma shot bolted past him.

“ _We’ve got your coordinates. Heading there now._ ” Shiro informed. The others’ affirmation soon followed, along with Allura telling them all to be careful.

Eventually, Lance made it back to the small tunnel that led to the outside of the cave. Dammit, he’d have to crouch down and crawl out, and he’d be vulnerable as Hell. Cursing under his breath, he deactivated his bayard and hung it on his hip. He got down on all fours, knees and elbows, and crawled as quickly as he could through the tunnel. In his panic, balance wavered for a moment and his body tipped forward, his face landing in rocks and dirt. He cringed a moment, but swung himself back up and continued with his escape.

“Where’d he go?!” He heard the muffled voices of the Galra shriek. “Don’t let him escape!”

Lance grinned.

_Success!_

But Lance was Lance, and Lance sometimes spoke too soon.

“There! Fire the net!”

“Fire the wha— _oof_!”

The Blue Paladin suddenly found himself trapped in a net made of thick, metal-like cable. He grunted, trying to free himself by pulling at the strings. He wished he had Keith’s or even Pidge’s bayard in this case—his was useless at the moment. He sniffed quietly, frustrated with the situation, only to realise the gap between his upper lip and nose was wet. Confused, he brought a hand to his lips and inspected it, only to find blood. Great. Now he was bleeding. He sighed, feeling himself being tugged backwards.

He grabbed two strands of the net and was about to yell at them to let him out, but his anger vanished the second he had taken hold of the net. The trapping item in question suddenly sent out a wave of electricity, shocking the boy. It lasted but a second, and when it was over, Lance grunted, bringing a hand to his head. He was only slightly disoriented, but being electrocuted was never fun. He did, however, notice one thing.

The tugging had stopped.

“Did you see that, sir?”

_‘Sir’? Crap, now their commander’s here._

“That I did.”

_What are they talking about?!_

“ _Lance, we think we’re at the cave, are you on your way out?_ ” Pidge suddenly asked. Lance grunted once more, clearly displeased with being trapped and electrified.

“I’m kind of trapped. They’ve got me in some net thing.” He said in a low voice to avoid being heard. “It also electrocuted me, and my nose is bleeding, but otherwise I’m fine, _thanks for asking_.” He added, saying the last few words with sarcasm.

“ _We’re coming in!_ ” Keith announced, ignoring Lance’s _woe-is-me_ babble.

And come in they did. Hunk must have used his shoulder cannon, because Lance felt rubble fall onto him in the tunnel, and he heard the panicked voices of the Galra behind him.

“Reel him in! Quickly! He must have brought company!”

The tunnel was closing in like an earthquake, but luckily, he was pulled out right in the nick of time. He was back in the wide, open space, but now, without a tunnel and with a clear path toward the windows from earlier, the place was brighter than ever. Lance was pretty sure his teammates just turned a cave into a non-cave.

“Hold it right there!” That was Shiro.

Lance turned around to try and view the source of the voice—his leader—and gripped on the net.

“Guys—!” He was interrupted by another volt of electricity zapping through his core, and he yelled out, crumpling to the ground.

“Lance!”

His mind was foggy now, but Lance was sure that was Hunk. He heard the blasting of the Yellow Paladin’s shoulder cannon, and he heard the footsteps of the Black, Red and Green Paladins run by him to get into range to fight.

Lance tried to sit up, he really did. But the second he put his hands on the ground, over some cables of the net, he was shocked yet again. He didn’t have the energy to yell out this time, and he fell forward, breathing hard.

Hunk seemed to see this (as he was still in the back, being able to fight from a distance) and raged. He ran up to join the others, blasting and throwing punches like nobody’s business.

Lance rolled to his side, grabbing onto his bayard in the process. He activated it and held it as tight as he could manage in both hands. He propped himself up on one elbow and licked his lips. His arms were shaking, but he stuck the gun through one of the holes in the net, and prepared for a shot.

“Guys, get out of the way!” He yelled. All eyes were on him, and his teammates nodded, spreading away from the centre of the room. Lance breathed in quickly, using all his remaining energy to fire a shot at the ceiling.

“Well, that was a miss, wasn’t it, boy?” The Galran commander mocked. The other soldiers began to laugh as well, muttering insults.

“W-Was it?” Lance asked, smirking some. However, his smirk didn’t last long. His bayard deactivated unwillingly and he rolled backward, passed out.

He was given looks of confusion, but before anything else could be said, the ceiling caved in, crushing the Galra underneath.

The rest of the cave began to, well, cave in, so the team ran for the exit. Keith grabbed Pidge by the arm, running out with her, and calling for Hunk and Shiro to grab Lance over his shoulder. The bee-patterned Paladins did so, untangling the net and Shiro grabbing Lance and hoisting him onto Hunk’s back. The three made it out not a second to late, and the gang stood back, watching what was once a camouflaged Galra base turn into nothing but dirt.

“Ha, got ‘em.” Lance muttered from Hunk’s back.

“Nice shot, Lance!” Shiro exclaimed, clapping a hand on Lance’s back.

“Thanks, guys.” Lance said, tapping Hunk’s back to indicate he wanted to be put down. Hunk obliged, bending down slightly to let Lance climb off.

“You okay, buddy?” The Yellow Paladin asked, voice filled with concern. Lance waved a hand.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He assured, wiping the blood from his nose on the sleeve of his armour.

Suddenly, they heard coughing from behind all of the dead plants and rocks. The five turned to face a Galran soldier, waving at the smoke in front of him and coughing into his fist. When he noticed that he was spotted, his made a surprised face and yelped. He came out from behind the former cave, covered in scratches and dirt. He seemed to be the only one standing. Shiro tensed, getting into a battle stance.

“What do you want?” He asked, almost in a snarl. The Galran put his hands up in defense and took a step back.

“I, uh, well. You’re not gonna kill me, are you?” He asked, voice tense. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Well, we don’t favour that, no, but you are a threat to us…”

“Please! I have a wife and three kids! I’ll give you all the information you want!” He yelped, taking yet another step back.

“But all of the info was in that cave,” Lance pointed out. “What could you possibly—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the soldier pulled out a tiny microchip from his sleeve.

“This! Take it, just, please, don’t kill me!”

Shiro walked over and grabbed the chip from him, making sure to be over-assertive.

“Why shouldn’t we kill you?” He asked, deciding to go along with the Galran’s freight.

“W-Well, I can show you were to use that chip. Or at least convert the information to a non-Galra piece of tech.” To this, Pidge raised a hand.

“I can already do that.”

“I, uh, can give you information that _isn’t_ on the chip.”

This time, Lance raised a hand.

“Yeah, uh, do you know what Voltron is?”

“Lance!” Keith scolded.

However, the druid looked dumbfounded.

“Voltron? Maybe? The weird robot thing? I think Lord Zarkon mentioned it once, yeah.” He said, nodding. “Why?”

Lance’s eyebrows furrowed. He crossed his arms and took a step forward.

“Another question: why did you guys want me so badly?”

“Lance, what are you doing?” Pidge whispered from behind him. Lance held out a finger.

“Just a sec,” He said. The boy then turned around to address the younger Paladin, and the others in a hushed voice. “Listen, they don’t know we’re the Paladins. And they were pretty adamant about keeping me, especially after the net started electrifying me. Why’d they want me if they thought I was just a regular guy? Like, I’m not Keith, y’know?”

“Go on, you flatter me.” Keith replied, voice monotone.

“Anyways, what I’m saying is that they must have had a reason, right?” The others murmured for a second before they all turned to look at Lance. They nodded in unison. “Good.” Lance declared. The five stood up straight, and turned to face the soldier again. “So yeah! Why’d you want me so bad?!” Lance repeated, pointing at the soldier accusingly.

“Well, I mean, _I_ didn’t want you. Commander Janz did! It’s because of the way you reacted to the net.”

“The net?” Hunk questioned. The Galran nodded.

“What about it?” Pidge asked.

“Well, when it comes in contact with blood, it zaps a bolt of electricity! But it was designed for the capture of one of our enemies. Commander Janz thought that the species of our enemies was extinct, but when your blood made contact, you got zapped. So, he wanted to keep his natural-born enemy as a prisoner.”

Blood rushed to Lance’s face, and his zaps from earlier suddenly seemed to be taking a toll on him.

“What enemy is that?” Keith asked.

“It couldn’t possibly be—” Shiro was about to hypothesize, but the Galran interrupted him.

“Well, we thought Alteans were extinct. Guess they aren’t after all! Lord Zarkon will _love_ this—”

_Bang!_

The Galra fell the ground, unmoving. Everyone turned to Lance, who was holding out his bayard with shaking hands. He lost his grip on it, and it fell to the ground, deactivating. He craned his neck to look back at his teammates, uttering but one word.

“Altean?”


	2. Who I Am Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Lance in a pod for a bit, Shiro takes the opportunity to tell Allura about what happened. Later, Allura offers Lance the chance to learn more about his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holla ;; look at these two nerds that got my gnome references (hint: it was fuckin trollhunters u losers now go watch it its amaze): Poppinpippin & star_set ! congrats u 2 were the only ones to get it............  
> sidenote: this chapter is?????????? idk man,, its ugly and i dont rly like it but u kno,,...sorry if its not as good as the first chapter, ill try 2 make up for dat.....

Lance felt like he was going to faint. Altean? Surely there had to be some sort of mistake. The net was probably faulty, or maybe it just wasn’t designed properly, or something. How in space could Lance be _Altean_? He was just a boy from Cuba! Who was Cuban! With Cuban parents! Maybe his nosebleed was more serious than he thought—maybe he was hearing things.

On their way to the Black Lion, Hunk let Lance lean on him, supporting the shorter boy the entire way. The walk back was quiet, the last thing said being something about asking Coran and Allura about the issue—from Shiro.

Also, because Allura had wanted a status report, Shiro told her in a calm tone that they were done with their mission (which, to be honest, they had completely forgotten about but hey—the gnomes were under a bunch of rubble now), and that they had… _interesting_ news for her when they got back. He also mentioned the chip the Galra soldier had given him.

Finally, they made it into Black. Keith leaned against the cockpit, next to Shiro, mumbling something the others didn’t hear. Pidge and Hunk sat on either side of Lance on the ground, telling him the Galran soldier was either really dumb or just making a stupid joke.

“Or both,” Hunk added during the conversation.

At the front of the cockpit, Keith frowned.

“It’s stupid,” he commented to Shiro. “Like, I find out I’m Galra and Galra are _bad_. He finds out he’s Altean—that’s a good thing! Why is he moping?!”

Shiro sighed, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Keith, I’m sure finding out you’re something you had no idea existed is a confusing feeling—whether that something is good or bad.” Keith huffed, but he knew Shiro was right. “Besides, he’s been electrocuted a few times. He might be out of it.” He added, never taking his eye off the path in front of them while piloting Black. “Which reminds me,” he said, bringing up a video feed of Allura.

“Shiro, what is it?” The princess asked, worry etched on her features.

“I didn’t mention this before, but can you prepare a pod?” Shiro said.

Lance, hearing this, looked up from his spot in between Pidge and Hunk.

“I don’t need a pod, Shiro.” He countered calmly. Shiro rolled his eyes.

“Consider it done. Who is it for?” Allura asked, trying to get a good view behind Shiro.

“Not me!” Lance exclaimed from the back of the cockpit.

“Him.” Shiro deadpanned. Allura smiled.

“Of course. Hurry back, Paladins.” And she was gone.

Lance stood up, wobbling a bit, and marched over to Shiro. Hunk tried to hold his arm back, but Lance yanked it away from him.

“Shiro, I _don’t_ need a pod!” He declared.

“Lance, relax, buddy.” Shiro said, turning around a second to look Lance in the eyes. “You were injured. You’re going in the pod.”

Lance fumed but said nothing, and turned on his heel to go sit back down. Shiro had a point—his head was fuzzy as anything, and he felt kind of lethargic. Maybe the pod would do him some good.

* * *

 

The team went off to do their own thing once Lance had been put in the pod. He was to wake within the hour, so Shiro took the opportunity to talk to Allura about what happened. When everyone had left the infirmary, Shiro stayed behind, putting a hand to the princess’ shoulder.

“Princess, can I talk to you a moment?” He asked, tone serious.

“Of course. Is something the matter?” She questioned.

Well. _Was_ something the matter? Shiro suddenly had doubts—should he just wait until Lance was awake before telling Allura? What if he didn’t want people knowing, especially the other Alteans on board?

Speaking of which, how would said Alteans react? Would it be a good thing, or a bad thing? Primarily, though, they had to find a way to _truly_ see if Lance had Altean blood. It seemed possible, what with Keith being part Galra. The kid hardly looked it—he just had the blood. It was possible Lance was the same.

But again—how would the Alteans on board react? Shiro wasn’t sure if Allura would take it well. He remembered how she had reacted to Keith’s self-discovery. Whatever. He’d just go for it. That way, they could have a plan for Lance when he woke up. He sighed.

“Sort of. We have reason to believe Lance may be of Altean descent.” He said carefully. He tried to read Allura’s features, but her face showed no emotion. He seriously hoped he didn’t cross boundaries or mess anything up. That was the _last_ thing he wanted.

“Is…is that so?” Although the question was directed towards Shiro, her eyes were fixed elsewhere. Shiro nodded, knowing that she could still see him from the corner of her eye. “I…don’t know what to say.” She admitted, looking up at him, now.

“You don’t have to say anything, Princess.” Shiro replied, smiling to try and lighten the mood. “We’d like to know if there’s a way to prove it or not. Do you have a way of checking D.N.A.?”

Allura nodded wordlessly and gestured for Shiro to follow her. The two walked out of the infirmary and down one of the many hallways of the large castle. Shiro realised that she started taking him to a part of the ship that he had not yet seen. He was about to question it, but Allura turned a corner and entered an unlit room. Shiro followed in behind her, wondering why this room out of all the others was dark and ominous. However, upon entry, Allura flicked a switch, illuminating everything. Shiro’s eyes widened.

The room was surrounded by four murals on each wall, making the place look like a large meadow. The ceiling was painted a light blue, and in the centre was a large yellow orb—the sun. The room was vibrant, lively and calming all at the same time.

In one corner sat a white crib with gold trimming. It appeared ancient, the trimmings peeling and cracking off, but otherwise, it was a beautiful piece of furniture. In another corner, there was a dressing table meant to change babies. It matched the same colour scheme as the crib. Right next to it was a long box covered in stickers and scribbles. What caught Shiro’s attention was the nightstand by the crib—on it was an old, dusty stuffed animal ( _what the ever-loving Hell was that animal?)_ and right next to it, a framed photo. The top left corner of the photo appeared to be damaged, possibly burned off, and unfortunately cutting off someone’s face. Right next to the person, however, was King Alfor. Him and the mystery being were carrying what looked like a bundle of white tuffs of hair. Shiro put two and two together immediately.

“Allura…was this your nursery?” He asked, looking over at her. She smiled sadly, looking at the ground.

“It was. Lovely, is it not?” She said, looking up at Shiro. The Black Paladin nodded. “Perhaps I can show it to you another time. This is what I wanted, though.” At the last bit, she stepped further into the room and opened the drawer inside the nightstand. She reached inside, fumbled around a bit, and after a moment, took out a small, golden stick. “It is not much, but this is the only thing I can think of.” She informed, turning the object around between her thumb and forefinger.

“What is it?” Shiro inquired when Allura walked back up to him.

“It is a thermometer crafted by my great-grandfather. It has been passed down my family for a long time. I was to pass it on to my heir, would I have had one.” She replied, putting the delicate object into Shiro’s palm. She wrapped her fingers around his hand, closing his fingers around the thermometer. “If our Blue Paladin is truly Altean, then the thermometer will be able to take his temperature.” She explained, smiling up at Shiro.

“I trust you entirely, Princess,” he started, “but how does it work?” He opened his palm, rotating the object in his grasp just as Allura had done a moment prior.

“This thermometer is not just for taking temperatures, though that had become its primary use.” She began, walking out of the room. Shiro followed, turning off the lights. The two made their way down the hallway and headed for the infirmary. “It is actually a formidable piece of Altean technology. It is able to record different statistics, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and, as you wished—D.N.A. structure. It was used as a medical device in my great-great grandfather’s day to determine illnesses in various Altean races, hence the need for D.N.A. structure.”

“Wow, that’s incredible…” Shiro said in awe, looking down at the device in his hand. When Allura said nothing, however, Shiro turned around to find her frozen in place. “Princess?” He questioned.

“I am… not entirely sure how to react to this news.” She admitted, looking up at the Black Paladin. Shiro sighed, walking up to her.

“It’s kind of a surprise, isn’t it?” He said. “Reminds me of when Keith found out about being Galra.” He added. Allura nodded in response before taking a few steps forward, Shiro following.

“I was not aware that there were more Alteans.” She continued, voice low. “Let alone Alteans from a different planet. I find it amusing that there could have been both Galra _and_ Alteans on your planet Earth. I’m wondering if there could be some kind of mistake.”

“You’re right, I never thought of it that way. And yes, that’s possible.” Shiro replied. The two then found themselves in front of the infirmary, where Lance was to awaken from his pod in a few moments. “Well,” Shiro said, “I guess we’ll find out soon.”

* * *

 

Lance heard muffled talking. There were two voices—wait, three, four…ah. His teammates plus Coran and Allura. However, before he could figure out what they were talking about, the world became warmer, clearer, and less muffled. Lance tumbled forward, only half awake, only to be caught in Hunk’s arms.

“Lance! How ya feelin’, bud?” The Yellow Paladin asked, smiling.

“Good,” Lance mumbled, pushing himself away from Hunk slightly. He stood up straight, eyeing the others in the room. He stopped when his eyes caught Coran and Allura, who’s expressions were practically unreadable. “Um. Shiro, did you—”

“I did. I’m sorry if you wanted us to wait,” Shiro interrupted, eyes soft.

“Nah. It’s fine.”

Coran walked up to him then, holding the thermometer. Everyone backed off slightly into a half-circle, surrounding Lance and Coran in the middle. The elder closed his eyes a moment, sighing. He opened his eyes and gave Lance a reassuring smile. He handed the golden artifact to Lance, who looked at it confusedly, then back up at Coran.

“This thermometer will tell us for sure if you’re Altean.” He explained, gesturing for the boy to put it in his mouth. Lance nodded once, placing the tip of the device under his tongue.

The gang waited in silence for a few ticks, waiting for the soft _beep_ of the thermometer. When it rang out, Lance took it out with shaking hands, flipping it over to see the reading. However, it was a bunch of Altean characters. He frowned, handing it over to Coran.

“What does it say?” Keith asked, breaking the silence.

Allura walked over to Coran, peering beside him to get a good view of the thermometer. Coran pressed a button, changing the information on the display screen. He toggled through the different displays, passing temperature, heart rate, and other information. Finally, he received the overview for ‘sub-species’.

And there, presented in Altean, was ‘Mainland: Northwestern’.

“Lance…” Allura began, looking up from the device. She couldn’t finish her sentence, however, as she was at loss for words. She knew well that the display would have simply shown a dash had there been no information on it. And thus, the final verdict…

“You’re of Altean blood.” Coran said, closing the statement for Allura. “From the Northwestern Mainland, to be specific.” He concluded.

“Wow, I, uh. Wow.” Lance said, letting out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

“What’s the Northwestern Mainland?” Pidge asked, curiosity etched on her features.

“I am unsure. Coran and I come from the Northeastern Mainland, where the Royal Family lived. It is possible that his ancestors and ours have never met.” Allura said sadly. However, she walked up to Lance, gently grasping his hands in hers, catching him off guard. “It is a pleasure to receive such fascinating information, Blue Paladin.”

“Thanks?” Lance said, face red. “But like, I don’t know anything about Altea.”

“Oh, oh!” Pidge exclaimed, raising a hand, “I can teach you some Altean!” She offered happily.

“An’ I can teach you _all_ of Altea’s history!” Coran added proudly, twisting one end of his mustache.

“If you’d like,” Allura began, “I can try and find out who your Altean family is.” She suggested. To this, Lance shrugged.

“I guess. I mean, this basically implies that one of my parents are Altean, right?” He asked. Allura nodded.

“It is possible that there isn’t very much Altean blood in you, but we can figure this all out with further sampling.” She explained.

“Sampling?” Lance gulped, features twisting into disgust.

“Only if you wish to know about your Altean ancestors.”

While everyone else kept mumbling and rambling, Lance took a moment to think about Allura’s offer. It probably wasn’t possible to, like, see pictures or something, but if he could find out more about who he was, then why not? Did he really have a choice? While the thought of being part alien was cool, he couldn’t help but wonder how the Hell it was kept a secret in his family for generations. Who was the Altean parent? His father, or his mother? His little sisters, Sophia and Maria—what would they think about realising they were part alien? His older brother, Joseph—how would he react? His Abuela, his grandmother, his grandfathers—which ones were Altean? How prominent were the genes, necessarily? How come he didn’t have any facial markings or weird ears? Unconsciously, a hand went to his right ear as if examining it. Allura _had_ told him when they first met that his ears were weird—was it because they resembled Altean ears or something?! He sighed, making his decision and facing Allura with a serious expression.

“I’d like to take you up on that offer, Princess.” He said firmly. Allura nodded once.

“Excellent, follow me.”


	3. Purple Envy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so if anyone has seen my profile, yall kno schools been really busy. so i apologise for the long wait, especially since the chapter's not even that long. hopefully i can get a few more rolling, as im done class, but yeah...thanks for your patience yet again! hope yall like it xx

Lance followed Allura into one of the many rooms of the castle. When the princess walked in, she clapped her hands, and the room lit up immediately. Lance instantly recognised it as some kind of lounge or den—a cozy one, at that. The walls were bordered by freakishly tall bookcases (which, if Lance was correct, smelled oddly of oak) filled to the brim with different texts; there wasn’t one hole anywhere. In the middle of the room was a rug, topped with a few lounge sofas all facing a large, glass coffee table and a fireplace (well, an electric one).

“Cool place,” Lance mumbled upon walking in. “Kinda looks like a room we’d have back on Earth,” he explained, almost sadly.

“Really? Interesting,” Allura replied, eyes curious. “This is one of the record chambers. Is that what this area is called on Earth?” She asked.

“Uh, no. It’s more of…a library, but mixed with a study or living room, I guess?” Lance pondered, hands on his hips. Allura blinked at him and said nothing a moment before raising an eyebrow.

“Library? Study? Living room? What are those?”

“A library is a place to borrow books.”

“Are books not freely available on Earth?”

“Kind of? And a study is, well, a place to do work and study and stuff.”

“Can you not do that anywhere well lit and with a durable surface?”

“I guess? And a living room is just a place to chill.”

“I find it odd that you have a room in which you are presumed to be alive. Are you not living while in other rooms?”

“We are, but living rooms are a place to uh…you know what? I have no idea why it’s called that.”

“Well. Weird Earth customs aside, let’s find out about your history, shall we?”

“Heck yeah.”

* * *

 Around thirty-seven books and four hours later, Lance sighed and plopped his head onto the table in front of him. The surface was littered in books, photos, clippings and other pieces of information. However, he and Allura had no leads at all. They tried looking up his last name, his mother’s, his grandparents’, but all to no avail. There were even two books on Earth and neither of them mentioned Alteans, despite every book in the room being written by one. Unfortunately for Allura, she was the one reading through them all, and Lance simply answered any questions she brought up.

“Are you sure you’ve no family with the surname _Winston_?” Allura asked, putting down a book onto her lap. Lance brought his head back up, leaning his elbow on the table and supporting his chin with his hand.

“Not that I know of. Are you sure that thermometer works properly?” Lance asked, stretching. “We’ve been at this for a while.”

“There are only so many books on Altean ancestry,” Allura sighed, closing the book and putting it onto the table in front of her. “Perhaps it is time for the sampling?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow. Lance gulped, sitting up straight.

“What kind of sampling are we talkin’ about?”

“Blood samples, skin tissue samples, urine—” Before she could continue, Lance held up his hands defensively.

“Whoa. Blood samples, I’ll do. Can we just start with that?”

“Of course. Coran should be able to help.” Allura informed, standing up. “But first, I’m famished!” She exclaimed, putting a hand to her tummy.

* * *

 "So, did you guys find anything?” Pidge asked while the gang surrounded the dinner table.

“Nada. Zilch. _Zeeeero_.” Lance replied, sticking out his fingers in an ‘o’ shape at the last word.

“Lame.” Hunk replied, taking a bit of his excellently-prepared food goo.

The chatter continued for a while, but Lance eventually noticed something. While everyone was rather curious about the Cuban’s sudden Altean blood, one person in particular didn’t appear to be—Keith. The Red Paladin hadn’t said a word to him for nearly the entire day, and honestly, Lance wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like he did something wrong, right? However, before he could continue questioning it further, everyone’s talking stopped as the boy in question stood up.

“Thanks for the food,” Keith mumbled, walking away with his dish. “I’ll be at the training deck if anything,” he called behind his shoulder as he left the area.

The rest of the group gave each other concerned glances, but Lance kept to himself, poking at his food with his spork.

“What’s up with him? He kept his mouth shut all dinner.” Hunk asked aloud, to no one in particular.

“Maybe he’s just tired,” Pidge answered, mouth full of food.

Shiro put down his utensil and hummed loudly, earning the attention of the others.

“I think I know what’s up. I’ll talk to him later tonight.” He said, also standing up with his plate. The others merely nodded at his statement and continued to eat in silence.

Eventually, everyone finished, put away their dish, and left. Allura told Lance that they would continue with their research the following morning, so Lance figured he’d rest of the remainder of the evening. What he _didn’t_ expect, though, was to run into Keith in the middle of the hallway.

“Hey, _mullet_.” Lance greeted, purposely putting emphasis on Keith’s hated nickname.

“What do you want?” Keith barked, eyes narrowed. Lance put his hands out in front of him.

“Geez, what’s your deal?” Lance questioned. “And didn’t you say you were gonna go train?” He added, putting his hands on his hips.

“ _Nothing_ is my deal and it’s _none of your business_ what I do in my spare time!” Keith all but shouted back, startling the Blue Paladin. Without another word, he grabbed Lance’s shoulder and shoved him aside, walking away from the scene.

Lance, however, was having none of it. He spun around as quickly as he could and threw his hands in the air.

“What the quiznack’s your problem, Keith?” He said loudly, trying to earn the other’s attention. Keith took another step or two before stopping in his tracks and turning around.

His arms were stuck to his side, hands balled into fists. He looked like he was trying to find the right words, and he opened and closed his mouth some, but at one point, he stopped. Instead, he walked up to Lance, the latter taking a step back with his hands shielding him.

“My _problem_ is that suddenly you’re Altean!” He exclaimed angrily.

Lance narrowed his eyes, putting his hands on Keith’s shoulder and pushing him slightly.

“That’s not my fault, man. And this thing’s freaking me out, too.” He informed as if insulted.

“That’s not it!” Keith responded, still fuming. “Everyone’s suddenly so interested in this, but why? It’s not interesting. So what if you’re part alien? So am I! And I didn’t get the quality treatment you’re getting!”

Oh, shit. Okay, so yeah, he was thinking that, but he definitely did not mean to say it—especially to the person he was jealous of. But yeah, so sue him, okay?! Yes, he was jealous! When he found out he was part Galra, was everybody as interested? Of course not. In fact, Hunk teased him about it for the duration of an _entire_ mission. Lance wasn’t getting any of that. Oh, and Allura. _God damn_ , Allura. Keith was literally _ignored_ by the Altean Princess for days—but Lance? Now it was all, “Lance is Altean!” and “I can help him find out about his ancestors!” Where was Keith’s assistance in finding out about _his_ family? Oh, right, that was taken away from him, too.

“So you’re jealous?” Lance replied softly after a moment. “ _The_ Keith is jealous of me?” The Blue Paladin chuckled a bit. “Seriously, dude? Is that it? Is that why you haven’t said a word to me since our last mission?”

“I’m not _jealous_!” Keith retorted.

_Well, yes, I am. But he doesn’t need to know._

“Then what’s the big deal?” Lance tested, raising an eyebrow. Keith huffed and turned on his heel, ready to walk away, but for some reason, he didn’t. Lance stared confusedly at his back for a moment until he sighed. “Fine. I get it. Don’t talk to me, then.”

Lance stood still a moment longer before grunted and spun around, walking away. Keith stood at the other end of the hall, arms crossed and unmoving. When he was sure Lance was gone, his shoulders slumped and he sighed.

This was more than jealousy.

* * *

 Shiro had been true to his promise when he had said he planned on speaking to Keith. The only problem was that the latter was nowhere to be found. Shiro was sure he had somehow managed to leave the castle, but he finally found him in his room.

“Keith? You in there?” Shiro asked loudly by Keith’s door.

“Yeah,” Keith replied. Shiro walked forward, and the door to Keith’s room slid up. The Black Paladin made his way inside, finding Keith doing push ups on the ground.

“Not training?” Shiro questioned, taking a seat on Keith’s bed. The Red Paladin stopped his push ups and sat down, letting out a puff of air. He shrugged.

“I was before, but decided I wanted to be in my own room.” He explained, grabbing a nearby towel and drying his face with it.

Shiro thought a moment before continuing the conversation. Should he straight up question Keith? What would he even question? “You haven’t been talking much”? He didn’t want to intrude in Keith’s personal space, but he worried when his teammates were off, and as their leader, he wanted to help them in whatever way he could.

“Is something bothering you?” Shiro asked, perhaps too bluntly. Keith rolled his eyes and stood up, the towel falling off his lap and onto the floor.

“Why’s everyone asking me that? I’m fine.”

“Everyone?”

_Well, shit._

“Lance asked me the same thing.” Keith explained, folding his arms.

“He did?” Shiro questioned, raising an eyebrow. Keith sighed, as if the topic annoyed him.

“Listen, Shiro. I appreciate you coming to talk to me, but you know what’s wrong already… and I don’t really feel like talking about it.” Keith said, almost sadly. Shiro huffed in response, pushing himself up and off his spot from Keith’s bed.

“Alright, but I’ll be here if you need anything.” Shiro reminded, putting his hand up for a quick wave before walking out.

Keith plopped onto his bed, staring at the blank ceiling above him. He draped an arm over his eyes, sighing out of frustration.

“But this isn’t just ‘anything’…” he muttered.

* * *

 It was around two in the morning when Keith heard banging coming from the hallway. Prepared for nearly anything, he bolted out of bed, quickly slipped into his clothes and dashed out of his room. He considered running to get his bayard, but decided against it. His fists would do just fine, and if there were too many enemies to deal with, he’d simply scream to activate the sound-sensitive alarm system—wait, what? Why didn’t the alarm go off? Keith took a few steps down the hallway, wondering how the enemy could have gotten in without triggering, well, _any_ alarms.

When he spotted the source of the noise, however, he realised why.

“Lance?” He spoke softly, but the boy in question heard him anyway.

Lance was sitting at the other end of the hallway the floor, looking out of the huge window. Space was pretty… black, but the sky was littered with stars and nearby planets, and Keith could see the reflection of the soft light on Lance’s dark skin. When the Blue Paladin heard his name being called, he nearly jumped up, but relaxed when he saw it was only Keith.

“Oh, hey.” Lance spoke awkwardly.

“Was that you?” Keith asked, referring to the banging that had brought him there in the first place. Lance looked up at him, confused.

“Was what me?” He inquired. It was then Keith realised his voice was shaking; was it possible the boy was crying? Putting that thought aside, Keith shook his head.

“Never mind. It mustn’t have been you. Did you hear a thud or anything?” He asked, gesturing behind him with his thumb. Lance shook his head no. “Well, something was loud enough to wake me up. Want to uh…” How should he phrase this? He knew he and Lance weren’t on the best of terms at the moment, but admittedly, he felt bad for Lance’s current, pathetic state. “Want to help me find it?”

Lance looked away from Keith a moment, and back out the window. He supposed he could go for a stroll, whether or not it was with Keith. He just hoped the Red Paladin wasn’t observant enough to notice that he had been on the verge of crying.

“Sure,” Lance agreed, standing up. “Should we wake anyone else up? Y’know, in case it’s Galra or something.”

Upon hearing the alien race, Keith rolled his eyes. He just wished he didn’t have to hear ‘Galra’ or ‘Altean’ for the next five hundred or so years.

“No, it’s fine.” He said sourly. “We can find it on our own, unless you’re _scared_!” He teased, smirking and folding his arms. Lance, being Lance, took the bait immediately.

“What? I’m not scared! Of course we can handle it on our own.”

Keith’s smirk grew into a full-fledged smile, and he dropped his arms to the side. Lance was easily turned, that was for sure.

However, just as his smile had appeared, it had quickly vanished. He and Lance tumbled backwards, falling onto the floor. They both sat up immediately, Keith looking annoyed and Lance looking confused.

“Did the castle just… shake?” Keith asked, standing up. Lance quickly copied him, hands on his hips.

“I think so.” Lance replied, tone serious. “And not that I don’t think we can handle it on our own, but it’s probably a good idea to get the others, considering the alarm is apparently doing a _horrible_ job!” Towards the last bit of his sentence, Lance’s arms went flying, showing his exasperation.

“Yeah, I agree. Let’s go get Shiro.”

 

 


End file.
